мрьтвъ

Forms

мрьтвъ (mrĭtvŭ)^[1]

• Also spelled мрътвъ, the usual spelling of the Gospel codices, the Psalterium Sinaiticum, the Euchologium and the Codex Suprasliensis, and once мьрьтвъ in the Savvina kniga.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Slavic *mьrtvъ (“dead”), a word of every Slavic language except Polabian.^[3][4] Besides lifeless and dead, its descendants have many figurative senses, among them empty or deserted, barren, numb, deathly pale and sluggish.^[3] The same word is Russian мёртвый (mjórtvyj), Bulgarian мъртъв (mắrtǎv), Serbo-Croatian mr̀tav, Slovene mŕtəv, Czech mrtvý and Polish martwy.^[3][4][5] Derksen reconstructs it with accent paradigm b.^[4]

It continues Proto-Balto-Slavic *mirtwas and Proto-Indo-European *mr̥twós, from the root Proto-Indo-European *mer- (“to die”), which is also the root of мрѣти.^[3][1] Its closest match outside Slavic is Latin mortuus (“dead”), which has the same formation.^[3][4][1] ESJS and Vasmer take both as a remodelling of the older participle Proto-Indo-European *mr̥tós, seen in Sanskrit मृत (mṛtá, “dead”), Old Armenian մարդ (mard, “man”) and Ancient Greek βροτός (brotós, “mortal”), after the adjective for living, живъ.^[3][5][1] Vasmer sees the older form still in оумрътиѥ of the Codex Suprasliensis.^[5] Pokorny explained the Slavic and Latin words by the influence of a form in *-tu- on Proto-Indo-European *mr̥wós, the source of Old Irish marb (“dead”) and Welsh marw (“dead”), while Walde and Hofmann thought of a blend of the two older formations that happened in Slavic and Latin independently.^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Gospel codices (Zographensis, Marianus, Assemanianus and the Savvina kniga) use мрьтвъ for Ancient Greek νεκρός (nekrós, “dead”), as in the parable of the prodigal son: с‹ꙑ›нъ моі сь • мрътвъ бѣ ꙇ оживе “this my son was dead and has come back to life” (L 15, 24).^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

Besides νεκρός the word renders Ancient Greek τεθνηκώς (tethnēkṓs), and used as a noun, мрьтвꙑи is a dead man or a corpse, as in еда мрътвꙑмь сътворіші чюдеса “will you work wonders for the dead?” (Ps 87, 11 Sin) and in the formula of Christ as judge of the living and the dead in the Glagolita Clozianus.^[3][6][2] It is also used figuratively, of the “dead idols” of the pagans in the Codex Suprasliensis and of “dead works” in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hb 9, 14), and the Dead Sea is морѥ мрьтво, for Θάλασσα Νεκρά (Supr 128, 23).^[6] The Codex Suprasliensis alone has it 68 times.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. dead, lifeless; for νεκρός, τεθνηκώς.^[6][2][1]
2. (as a noun, мрьтвꙑи) A dead man, a corpse.^[3][2]
3. (figurative) Dead, without effect, of idols and works.^[6]

Word family

• мрьтвьць
• мрьтвость
• оумрътвити

Related words

• мрѣти
• оумрѣти
• съмрьть
• моръ
• Russian мёртвый (mjórtvyj)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Slovník nejstarších staroslověnských památek (digital ed., Gorazd, Slovanský ústav AV ČR, gorazd.org); cf. Cejtlin, R. M.; Večerka, R.; Blagova, É. (eds.) (1994), Staroslavjanskij slovar' (po rukopisjam X–XI vekov), Moskva: Russkij jazyk
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Havlová, Eva; Erhart, Adolf; Janyšková, Ilona (eds.) (1989–2022), Etymologický slovník jazyka staroslověnského, 21 fascicles, Praha: Academia / Brno: Tribun EU, p. 504
4. ^ a b c d Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 2, 606
6. ^ a b c d e Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
7. ^ Eckhoff, Hanne M.; Berdicevskis, Aleksandrs et al., TOROT: The Tromsø Old Russian and OCS Treebank, release 20200116, torottreebank.github.io